Stars Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux on finding the humour of Watergate in HBO satire ‘White House Plumbers’ (VIDEO)

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Watergate continues to be one of the most discussed political scandals in the United States as presidential corruption becomes more relevant today.

The scandal was a cover-up of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington to steal documents that would have helped US President Richard Nixon win the 1976 presidential election.

Series director Dave Mandel wanted to focus on the personal lives of the men who orchestrated the Watergate break-in. — Picture courtesy of HBO

HBO miniseries White House Plumbers puts a satirical spin on the partnership between E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, the men who orchestrated the break-in that ultimately ended Nixon’s presidency.

In a virtual press conference, stars Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux and director Dave Mandel spoke about Hunt and Liddy’s love-hate relationship, balancing humour and real events as well as their reflections on Watergate.

Partners in crime

Apart from the infamous subject matter, Harrelson and Theroux signed up for the project because of the script from Veep writers Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck.

“The first script I got was hilarious and the fact that most of it was pretty much accurate and unbelievable was the draw for me,” Theroux said.

“I wanted to play something that was historic and so funny, maybe not at the time but certainly in retrospect.”

Mandel told Malay Mail it was a ‘bromance’ on and off camera that brought something special to Harrelson and Theroux’s performance.

“What I love about them is that they are super comfortable in dramatic scenes but are also really funny guys,” Mandel said.

“That’s how I love to work, to find the dramatic parts of funny things and vice versa and they did it fantastically.”

“We had a lot of ideas on Hunt and Liddy and how to mess with the other guy on-screen, it helped us stay on our toes,” Harrelson shared.

“We played it for real dramatically and the comedy came out through the friction of the drama that was going on.”

“It was fun, kinda like a weird competitive brother type relationship,” Theroux said.

“Sometimes our director Dave had to dial us back because we weren’t afraid to ham up our comedic scenes together.”

Historical and comedic accuracy

According to Mandel, the miniseries was set to be a comedy right from the start, but not for the sake of jokes.

“I’m very fond of saying that this (Watergate) was a very funny tragedy and it’s because you’re laughing at things, you can’t believe was real,” Mandel explained.

“On the one hand, it was a horrific break of the public’s trust in the President and then you can’t help but laugh that they couldn’t get the right lockpicks to break into the door.”

Theroux hoped that the series would strike a balance between comedy and drama and claimed 80 per cent of it was true with some liberties taken.

“The stunning thing for us is when we did the scenes and got the script and we’d go ‘Now this is true right?’ and more often than not we got a yes,” Theroux shared.

“Right down to their wigs and disguises to the ways and means of breaking in and all the other plans they weren’t able to do, it was real.”

Mandel added that prior to directing the show, he was already a fan of Watergate-related documentaries, podcasts, TV shows and films like Nixon and All the President’s Men.

Directing White House Plumbers gave Mandel the opportunity to focus on the lives and families of the men involved in the break-in who were overlooked.

Looking back in retrospect

Mandel believes that most people today have forgotten about Watergate and how shocking it was to see abuses of power at a high level.

“In America, there was this sense that Watergate fixed everything, we elected Jimmy Carter and everything was good... obviously that wasn’t true,” the director said.

“It was cartoony then, but boy is it Looney Tunes now,” said Theroux on how he feels American politics has gotten worse today.

“Something about the Nixon administration tipped over some dominoes that continued to tip more and more dominoes over today.”

“I think it was the first time that we saw a government break under its own corruption,”

“I’m sure it wasn’t the first time it had happened but it wasn’t on television in the same way, it was like the moon landing of screw-ups.”

White House Plumbers also stars Lena Headey, Domnhall Gleeson and Kiernan Shipka; it premieres on HBO Max on May 1.